Meet English Alum Jamie Wielgus '11GS

Jamie Wielgus '11GS talks about her favorite classes as an English graduate student at Simmons and working at her dream job.

What graduate program were you in and when did you graduate?

I was in the Master of Arts in English program, and I graduated in 2011.

What motivated you to make the move to go to graduate school at Simmons?

I started working in the publishing industry shortly after graduating from college in 2002. After a few years in the workforce, I knew that publishing was the right match for me, but I was itching to return to school to hone my critical-thinking and writing skills. The Simmons program was the perfect fit for me—the small classes, phenomenal and accessible professors, and strong sense of community that Simmons offered were everything that I was looking for in a graduate program.

What was your favorite part of your program?

Everything! But if I had to choose one aspect, I would say the support and encouragement that I found at Simmons. My professors always had time to meet and talk in-person, and encouraged me to really push my academic boundaries and ideas in my research and work. Similarly, I found a great group of friends. As I write this, I am sitting next to one of my closest Simmons friends—5 years later, and we’re still doing work together on a Sunday at the Cambridge Library!

What kind of research did you do while at Simmons?

I focused much of my research on film and gender theory, and specifically in my independent study on film adaptations of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein with Suzanne Leonard.

What was your favorite class you took at Simmons? Why?

It’s impossible to pick just one! I really loved Suzanne Leonard's Feminist Film Theory class. This was my first introduction to studying film-as-text, and I was immediately hooked. I loved being able to analyze the dialogue and imagery in films through different theoretical and critical lenses.

If you could come back and take one class at Simmons what would it be?

I think it would be Pam Bromberg’s Jane Austen and Virginia Woolf class, which is now Jane Austen and Her Contemporaries. I always thought that I disliked Austen, but Pam’s class taught me how groundbreaking (and so smartly comical!) Austen’s work is, and I’ve been a loyal fan ever since.

What are you doing now?

I am an Associate Editor at John Wiley & Sons Publishing in Boston. I manage a portfolio of scholarly journals in the field of health sciences—overseeing the overall strategic and financial health of the publications.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Scholarly publishing is a fast-moving and ever-changing industry, so it’s a really exciting industry to be a part of right now. In 10 years, I hope to still be in this field, and engaging with the new innovations and policies that are continuing to come down the pipeline.

What is your dream job?

I have it! The support and close-knit community that I loved so much at Simmons is also something that I experience every day at Wiley. I am incredibly lucky to engage in really interesting work while surrounded with, and supported by, a group of smart, driven, and just all-around lovely colleagues—I’m pretty lucky.